Unbelieving Witness
by Lailana
Summary: Every night Hermione arrives at the Ministry at night. She would prefer to go unnoticed, but she has still unwillingly attained a witness. Written for the Secret Challenge by Lil'MissChris Secret: "Your character has reoccurring nightmares that cause insomnia."


The clock gently chimes three times to the empty of hallways of the Ministry of Magic. At least that is what one would assume seeing as the daily onstorm of workers that form a wave of footsteps whose echoes reach the Department of Mysteries, is four hours away. In opposite to muggle clocks though, this one's chimes become louder the further away one stands, so that even the unlucky employees of the Wizengamot courtrooms, whose robes hinder them of the proper use of a pocket watch may hear the time.

This time though, the chimes merely have to reach the second level whose entirety belongs to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Beyond the impressive Auror Office and even behind the storage room of the Department of Intoxicating Substances where the mysterious contents of various bottles vibrate along with the sound, there they reach the Administrative Registration Department whose dozing Head almost jumps out of his chair at the sound.

Looking around himself, he realizes he had fallen asleep again, the same having happened the hour before, and the hour before that. He should stop doing this, but for some reason he cannot, although every single time for the last two weeks barely a few details had changed in the events. In fact, it was so exact he had written a schedule composed of what he had seen the first three nights when he had still bothered to follow her due to his curious nature.

* * *

_3:10am : She walks past my door, the echoes of her footsteps felt by my legs as I hide under the doors window so as not to be seen by the searching look I saw the first night whilst sitting at my desk, expecting the darkness to hide me._

_3:35am: I follow her to the end of the archives where the current cases are being worked through. She doesn't sit as to not fall asleep, as I had witnessed two hours later the second night. Waving her wand lazily she sorts the papers for our colleagues the next day before routinely checking and filling out other documents, sometimes calling out the name of a law before one of the large tomes of law would descend from the shelves at the very top. I would know, as I sat there the first night till I realized that no matter where I sat at the edge, she would eventually call out the name of a law that was inside the tome that happened to be stored behind my legs._

_5:30am: She fell asleep once when she opted to sit down on one of the leather seats. She woke up 30 minutes later, her scream accompanying the six chimes._

* * *

Before he could reread the rest of the crumpled parchment, he noticed the time, five minutes before she would arrive. Turning off the lights and quietly manouvering around the stacks of files so they wouldn't fall crash like in the fifth night, he took his regular place right under the doors window, back leaning against the wooden door as he waited for her to arrive, the dim lights providing his eyes enough to read off his wristwatch. Almost at the second her footsteps reach his ears and his muscles relax, almost in relief that the routine of this game is secure for another night.

Yet the feeling disappears the moment she takes the customary right turn at the end of the corridor, replaced with the slight disbelief that gradually increases until it reaches it's climax four hours later, after all, no one would believe him that the great Hermione Granger, suffered from insomnia due to nightmares. Even HE needed to look at her closely before noticing signs of fatigue. The fact that he even knew of her early work hours was the result of a coincidence, otherwise he might not have noticed the little sighs she gave off at the end of each day, dreading each and every night to come.

Maybe that was why he still came here every night. Not to observe someone who suffered out of spite, but to believe the secret he now bore witness to.


End file.
